TV ads, big endorsements in mayor's race

San Diego City Council members and mayoral candidates Kevin Faulconer, left, and David Alvarez, right, along with former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, center, debate at the Logan Heights Family Health Center.
— Howard Lipin / UT San Diego

San Diego City Council members and mayoral candidates Kevin Faulconer, left, and David Alvarez, right, along with former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, center, debate at the Logan Heights Family Health Center.
— Howard Lipin / UT San Diego

The San Diego mayor’s race intensified Monday as Nathan Fletcher picked up an endorsement from Gov. Jerry Brown, Councilman David Alvarez announced the backing of school board members, and fellow council member Kevin Faulconer released his mayoral plan for boosting services in underserved neighborhoods.

Fletcher and Faulconer are also launching their television ad campaigns this week, just as mail ballots started going out to early voters in the Nov. 19 special election to replace former Mayor Bob Filner. Both campaigns said their current ads will be seen on both network and cable stations for at least the next week.

Brown’s endorsement comes more than 10 days after the governor visited San Diego to sign a bill for homeless veterans housing, where he lauded Fletcher but stopped just short of endorsing him.

“Nathan Fletcher will make an excellent mayor,” Brown said in a statement released yesterday. “I came to know Nathan when he was in the state Assembly. He and I worked together on tax reform, stimulating jobs and balancing the state budget. He is a solid leader who brings people together to get things done. I am confident that Nathan will bring this same spirit to the Mayor’s office …”

Nathan Fletcher TV ad

Nathan Fletcher debuts his first mayoral TV ad

The move by the Democratic governor underscores the deep divide in the party over who to back in the upcoming election. Alvarez, a Democrat, has secured the backing of the San Diego County Democratic Party and the influential San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council. Fletcher, a former Republican assemblyman turned Democrat, has amassed a number of high-profile Democratic supporters at the local and state levels, as well as endorsements from several unions and high-tech businesses.

Alvarez expanded his list of high-profile supporters with the announcement yesterday that San Diego Unified School District Board of Education President John Lee Evans, Vice President Kevin Beiser, and board members Richard Barrera and Marne Foster are endorsing him. San Diego County Board of Education board member Greg Robinson is also backing him.

Faulconer, who has been endorsed by several business groups and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, vowed yesterday to reduce fire and ambulance response times citywide by the end of 2015, if elected mayor. In his three-point “Neighborhood Fairness Plan,” Faulconer says its “unconscionable” that some city residents are at greater risk than others when they need an ambulance or firefighters.

Kevin Faulconer's mayoral TV ad

Kevin Faulconer's first TV ad in the mayoral campaign

His plan references a report that calls for building five more fire stations in underserved neighborhoods, but recommends immediately improving response times with a temporary fire station in Skyline and increasing the number of ambulances on the streets.

It also reiterates Faulconer’s promise to rebuild the city police department to ensure it is fully staffed and proposes expanding after-school programs at libraries and recreation centers through joint-use agreements with the San Diego school district.

Faulconer’s neighborhood-focused plan is also highlighted in his first TV ad that features former Mayor Jerry Sanders — now chamber president — reassuring voters that the councilman is non-partisan when it comes to serving the city’s residents.

“Kevin Faulconer knows there’s no Democrat or Republican way to fill a pothole, he’s about getting things done,” Sanders says in the ad. Faulconer is a Republican.

Similarly, Fletcher seeks to push party affiliation aside in his ad, focusing instead on his personal history as a Marine who saw combat and his tenure in the state Assembly.

“When I was a Marine serving in combat, we didn’t care what your political party was,” says Fletcher, now an executive at Qualcomm. “We worked together and completed the mission. It’s the same approach I took as a state legislator when we brought Democrats and Republicans together to pass Chelsea’s Law.”

Alvarez was the first candidate to have any TV advertising, which initially aired last month and was paid for by the labor-affiliated independent committee backing Alvarez, named “Working Families for a Better San Diego.”

For those wishing to vote ahead of the Nov. 19 election, the Registrar of Voters will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Election Day, when the hours will change to 7 a.m. through 8 p.m. The Registrar’s office estimates that the mail ballots sent out yesterday represent a little more than half the city’s 675,000 registered voters.

“I anticipate there will be more ballots cast by mail than individuals going to the polls,” said Registrar Michael Vu.